Hogwired.com: Texas Comes From Behind to Top Hogs
Justin Mason’s driving layup and free throw with 12 seconds left sent Texas to an 80-76 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night as the two old Southwest Conference schools met for the first time since 1991.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Game Stats (PDF)
- ESPN.com: Texas 80, Arkansas 76
- AP Photos: Darian Townes / Kevin Durant, Gary Ervin / D.J. Augustin, Charles Thomas / D.J. Augustin, Charles Thomas / Darian Townes / Justin Mason / Matt Hill, Charles Thomas / Kevin Durant, Stan Heath, Rick Barnes, Sonny Weems / Damion James
- Ryan Malashock: Texas Hooks Hogs Late
- Chip Zouza: Rivalry Renewal Sparks Larger Crowd
- Alex Abrams: Beverley Proves To Be Big Man For Hogs
- Harry King: Arkansas falls short against Longhorns
- Scott Cain: Good ol’ Texas tussle
- Wally Hall: Hogs, Horns do best to rekindle that old flame
- Nate Allen: Off the hook
Updated 12/21/06 7:35 a.m.
I'm not going to get on here and bash players, but I'll just say I'm disappointed in the team as a whole. Recruiting, players, coaches, trainers, the guy who sweeps Bud Walton.
I know we played hard and I know we "almost" won, but good grief. If… If…. If…. If….
As Michael Buble says: Quando, Quando, Quando….
For all you wondering what that means it is Italian for "when"…
WHEN are we going to be able to field a team that KNOWS how to win. I'm just very frustrated by all of this. I'm going to stick my head in the sand like I have with the football team and pretend everything is going to be OK.
Better….still a loss, but better. I thought our effort and intensity was more like what it needs to be every game. We played to our strengths inside, and let Beverly and Weems do some damage outside.
If we could have gotten Rick Barnes to stay in that sagging zone that they started the second half in, we would have blown their doors off! It's apparent that the teams that are going to give us the most trouble are the ones that guard us closely on the perimeter. Texas never really did that.
All in all, still a loss. But I'm a encouraged a little bit.
I thought it was a good effort. I just wish I could see more drives to the basket from Weems because the one drive that I saw him make it looked farely easy for him.
This team is in need of a point guard. Is there anybody else that can play point besides Ervin or McCurdy?
Idahog – The closest I can see playing the point is Beverly. He could probably handle it, but I think it would take away from his scoring… it's a lose-lose situation when you try to compensate for the lack of a point guard.
OK – I'm good with not bashing players because there was renewed physical effort in the Texas game and with a little more experienced killer instinct – this could have just as easily been a win. If not a bashing we have to at least do a little bruising to the play that unraveled a win into a 4 point loss. Great effort for the most part. The point play has gone from small guys driving too deep and eating whatever the ball is made of to a deliberate slow walking dribble out around the NBA 3 point area. Way too s-l-o-w. You need a jitterbug out there with at least an attempt or fake at dribbling into the paint. That frees that perimeter for your outlet passes and dishes to your big men. You gotta love the full court ball movement ending in a score with out the ball touching the floor. Save the dribble for penetration – move the ball and we all know what picking up the dribble gives to the opposition. Of course that means your people have to keep moving. Is it conditioning? Maybe well be some of that too.
Motion from the point is contagious – it gets everybody moving. It's energy. It breeds confidence because out of movement come open people but evidenced by the lack of that far too often from the point we seem to quit moving elsewhere far too often – so I guess that's contagious too.
You're exactly right Underhog. I don't know whether to blame the players or the coaches. Probably both, but I lean more to the coaching because we've never had consistent point play under Heath. It looks to me like players aren't being told or taught the fundamentals.
Take for instance these quotes:
"We tried to put a lot of pressure on their ball-handlers and deny their wings," Texas Tech guard Charlie Burgess said. "Teams like (Arkansas) are only going to run their sets for a little bit, and then they're going to go one-on-one. So we just did our best to create as much chaos as possible."
I thought Dan Hipsher was supposed to be the motion offense guru. Apparently, we're going back to Stan's "set" plays, which haven't worked since he's been here.
And here's another one:
"Maybe we could take a page out of Texas Tech's book — the way they can cut, use screens and backdoor you," Heath said. "If we can put some of that into what we're trying to do, it would make us a better team."
These are novel concepts that apparently Coach Heath has never thought of. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. It sounds like all we have to do is spend a couple of days on it in practice and we'll be good.
Some things baffle me. When's the Capital One bowl?